Fault Lines
A History of the United States Since 1974
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In this fully updated second edition of their masterful history, leading historians and best-selling authors Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer uncover the origins of our current moment, answering the question: When--and how--did America become so polarized? It all starts in 1974 with the Watergate crisis, the OPEC oil embargo, desegregation, busing riots in Boston, and the wind-down of the Vietnam War. What follows is the story of our own lifetimes. It's the story of ever-widening historical fault lines over economic inequality, race, gender, and sex norms firing up a polarized political landscape. It is also the story of the profound transformations of the media and our political system fueling the fire. The new edition includes a brand-new chapter, "American Carnage," on the Trump administration; a new epilogue on the Biden administration and the 2024 general election; and significant updates throughout.
About this Author
Kevin M. Kruse is an award-winning scholar on twentieth-century American political history. Fault Lines grew out of the hugely popular course that he and Julian Zelizer co-created at Princeton University, The United States Since 1974.
Julian E. Zelizer is an award-winning scholar on twentieth-century American political history. Fault Lines grew out of the hugely popular course that he and Kevin Kruse co-created at Princeton University, The United States Since 1974.
Reviews
"Comprehensive, fair-minded--half an American lifetime between two covers and in one fast-paced telling!"
"Fault Lines is an excellent history of U.S. political dysfunction... [with] deep detail and taut-as-a-thriller pacing."
"Refreshingly frank."
"In their new book, Fault Lines, [Kevin M.] Kruse and [Julian E.] Zelizer do an admirable job of creating a narrative out of the chaotic events of the recent past according to the themes of crisis, consolidation, and polarization. Using the post-Vietnam crisis of legitimacy as their jumping-off point, the authors trace the country's current divisive state through various periods of cultural fragmentation.... Kruse and Zelizer have composed the standard work for those teaching courses on the recent American past and the forces of polarization that have produced our contemporary divided public."
"Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer's Fault Lines is a brilliant primer for understanding the troubling precedents for today's mass American political dysfunction. Both historians are deeply informed and surefooted thinkers. A must-read foundational work for our time!"
"Fault Lines is a stunning work of the history of our present. An antidote to fake news and historical propaganda. In the age of Trump, Kruse and Zelizer's book sets the record straight. Every major cultural and political division over the past four decades comes to life in these pages, and in the telling we are confronted with the country we have been and the country we might become."
"Fault Lines is a must-read. Kruse and Zelizer have taken the fragmented histories of a polarized, divided nation and masterfully woven those threads into a tapestry that allows us to see not only what divides but what unites, and that the choice is ours."
"A forcefully argued analysis of the rifts that divide us and a lively, wide-ranging chronicle of the nation's odyssey from Nixon to Trump."
"For Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer, Donald Trump is not some singular figure. He is 'the result of trends decades in the making.' Sober, clearly written, and profoundly insightful. This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the forces of the last half century that have brought the country to the brink of disaster."
"With commanding knowledge and an eye for the telling detail, Kruse and Zelizer address the pressing historical question of how we arrived in today's polarized America. The answer, they show, is not simple, but they explain its various dimensions in a cogent and fair-minded fashion. A splendid book."
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